Introduction: Macrame Baby Swing

Macrame is one of the oldest fiber arts originating with the Arabic weavers in the 13th century. It then made it's way into popularity across the world thanks to sailors trying to pass time while out at sea. Queen Mary II even taught the art to her ladies in waiting during the 17th century. Later it became very popular in the 1970s and faded out again until more recently it has come back in the modern bohemian style home decor. https://www.hunker.com/13712633/the-history-of-ma...

Recently quitting my accounting job to stay home with my newborn baby girl I've had to find new ways to keep my mind actively working and learning. I found myself interested in the beautiful art of macrame and watched video after video trying to learn the different knots. When I found a beautiful macrame knotted baby swing on Pinterest I wanted to make one but didn't want to spend the money on a pattern, especially when I thought I might be able to make one myself even if it took some trial and error.

It definitely did take some trial and error. I found that it was difficult to make the pattern look symmetric and also to make the side loops match up with the back loops. After a lot of untying and redoing I came up with a pattern I am really happy with. I think I like it even better than the swing I originally saw on Pinterest.

Supplies

Step 1: Cut the Dowels to Size

Measure the Dowels to be 2" longer than each side of your wood base. Since my wood base was about 9" x 12", I cut two dowels to be about 11" long and the other two to be about 14" long. Make marks for 11" and 14" respectively on each of the 36" dowels and cut with your saw (or convince a strong person to do it for you, I recruited my husband).

Step 2: Drill the Dowels

One inch away from the end of each of your newly cut dowels make a mark for where you will drill a hole. Clamp the dowel down (as shown in the first picture) so you don't blow out the other end in the case that it gets caught while drilling (as shown in the second picture). Drill using a 13/32" size drill bit.

Step 3: ​Drill the Base

The back of the swing will take 18 ropes (which will turn into 36 separate working cords) to cover the 12" side of the wood base, so I'm going to mark 10 evenly spaced dots along one of the long sides of the wood base. Starting at 0.6" and another 1.2" away from that and so on down the length of the long side of the base.

The sides of the swing will take 13 ropes each (which will be 26 working cords) so I'm going to mark 6 new dots down either side. 1.2" away from the corner dot all along both sides. (you'll end up with 7 dots on either side when you include the corner dots that were marked when doing the back)

For the front of the swing(we'll have 6 ropes = 12 working cords) make a mark at 5.1" from the edge and then two more marks each 1.2" away from the first mark in either direction.

Then use a 13/32" size drill bit to drill the holes.

I needed 4 cords to fit in each hole so after measuring the size of cord I am using, I will need each hole to be about 0.4", and the closest drill bit to that size is the 13/32" drill bit.

Step 4: Prepare the Rope

We need 50 ten foot ropes and 12 five foot ropes. Cut these all at once to save time and then fuse the ends by heating with a candle flame (a candle to save energy and gas). Because the rope I am using is made 100% out of Polyolefin, it will fuse together when burned instead of catching fire. Make sure you have the correct type of rope before putting it under a flame!

Step 5: Intro to the Knot Tying

Knots used in this pattern:

Inspiration for this pattern:

My inspiration for this pattern came from this video tutorial. This video is really useful for visualizing the different knots. This video is what make the diagonal double half hitch knot click in my brain when trying to learn.

Note:

For each individual step of the pattern, renumber the cords from left to right (1-36 on the back, 1-26 on the sides and 1-12 on the front). That is how the cords will be referred to through the pattern.

Step 6: Back Pattern

I made 3 patterns for the back of the swing before I was happy with the way the back of the swing looked, so I hope you REALLY appreciate this part of the pattern because it caused a lot of frustration and sore fingers.

Larks Head:

Step 1:

Tie 18 larks head knots, using 18 of the ten foot ropes, on one of the 14" dowels. Resulting in 36 working cords.

Square knots:

Step 2:

Using cords 1-36, tie 9 left square knots in groups of 4 cords per square knot. Example: Use cords 1 and 4 as working cords with 2 and 3 as filler cords

Step 3:

Skip cords 1 and 2. Then using cords 3-14, tie 3 left square knots in groups of 4 cords per square knot. Skip cords 15-22. Then using cords 23-34, tie 3 more left square knots in groups of 4 cords per square knot. Leave cords 35 and 36 alone for this step.

Step 4:

Using cords 1-12, tie 3 left square knots in groups of 4 cords per square knot. Skip cords 13-24. Then using cords 25-36, tie 3 more left square knots in groups of 4 cords per square knot.

Step 5:

Skip cords 1 and 2. Then using cords 3-10, tie 2 left square knots in groups of 4 cords per square knot. Skip cords 11-26. Then using cords 27-34, tie 2 left square knots in groups of 4 cords per square knot. Leave cord 35 and 36 alone for this step.

Step 6:
Using cords 1-8, tie 2 left square knots in groups of 4 cords per square knot. Skip cords 9-28. Then using cords 29-36, tie 2 more left square knots in groups of 4 cords per square knot.

Step 7:
Skip cords 1 and 2. Then using cords 3-6, tie 1 left square knot. Skip cords 7-30. Then using cords 31-34, tie 1 left square knot. Leave cord 35 and 36 alone for this step.

Step 8:

Using cords 1-4, tie 1 left square knots. Skip cords 5-32. Then using cords 33-36, tie 1 more left square knot.

Diamond:

Step 9:

Cords 18 and 19 will be the holding cords for this step. Cross cord 18 over cord 19 so it's laying diagonally over cords 20-36. Cord 19 should be laying diagonally over cords 17-1. Now tie the diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 20-36 on holding cord 18, working to the right (if you're looking at http://www.free-macrame-patterns.com/double-half-h... you'll be following steps 1-3). Next, tie the diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 17-1 (in descending order) on holding cord 19, working to the left (if you're looking at http://www.free-macrame-patterns.com/double-half-... you'll be following step 5).

Step 10:

Now we're going to do a second layer. After you've renumbered your cords, the holding cords you'll be using for this step will be 18 and 19 again. Cross cord 18 over cord 19 so it's laying diagonally over cords 20-35. Cord 19 should be laying diagonally over cords 17-2. Now tie the diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 20-35 on holding cord 18, working to the right Next, tie the diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 17-2 (in descending order) on holding cord 19, working to the left. In this step you're leaving the newly numbered cords 1 and 36 along because those were the previous holding cords used in step 9.

Step 11:

Weave your cords. I chose to weave in groups of 2 cords (see the picture labeled "step 11"). But you can weave each individual cord if you prefer. Or groups 4 cords would work too. Really you can do whatever you want in this step to make the cords look pretty in the middle of your diamond.

Step 12:

Now we will close the inside diamond. After you've renumbered your cords, the holding cords you'll be using for this step will be 2 and 35. Lay cord 2 over cords 3-17, and tie the diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 3-17 on holding cord 2, working to the right. Next, lay cord 35 over cords 34-20, and tie the diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 34-20 (in descending order) on holding cord 35, working to the left. Leave cords 17 and 18 alone for this step.

Step 13:

Now we will close the outside diamond. The holding cords you'll be using for this step will be 1 and 36. Lay cord 1 over cords 2-15, and tie the diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 2-14 on holding cord 1, working to the right. Next, lay cord 36 over cords 35-23, and tie the diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 35-22 (in descending order) on holding cord 36, working to the left. Leave cords 16-21 alone for this step. The reason for leaving cords 16-21 undone has to do with the height of the back. I needed the back to be only about an inch taller than the side pieces and so we aren't going to fully close the bottom of the diamond.

Square knots:

Step 14:

Repeat step 8.

Step 15:

Repeat step 7.

Step 16:

Repeat step 6.

Step 17:

Repeat step 5.

Step 18:

Repeat step 4.

Step 19:

Skip cords 1 and 2. Then using cords 3-34, tie 8 left square knots in groups of 4 cords per square knot. Leave cords 35 and 36 alone for this step.

Step 7: Side Pattern (Make 2 of These)

Larks Head:

Step 1:

Tie 13 larks head knots, using 13 of the ten foot ropes, on one of the 11" dowels. Resulting in 26 working cords.

Square knots:

Step 2:

Using cords 1-8, tie 2 left square knots in groups of 4 cords per square knot. Then using cords 9-18 tie another 2 left square knots but this time in groups of 5 cords per square knot. Example: You'll use cords 9 and 13 as working cords and cords 10-12 as filler cords for one of the knots. For the other, you'll use cords 14 and 18 as working cords and cords 15-17 as filler cords. Then finish the row using cords 19-26, tie 2 left square knots in groups of 4 cords per square knot. You'll end up with 6 square knots total

Step 3:
Skip cords 1 and 2. Then using cords 3-6, tie 1 left square knot (2 filler cords). Then use cords 7-11 to tie another left square knot (3 filler cords). Skip cords 12-15. Then using cords 16-20, tie 1 left square knot (3 filler cords). And tie another left square knot with cords 21-24 (2 filler cords). Leave cords 25 and 26 alone.

Step 4:

Using cords 1-4, tie 1 left square knot (2 filler cords). Then use cords 5-9 to tie another left square knot (3 filler cords). Skip cords 10-17. Then using cords 18-22, tie 1 left square knot (3 filler cords). And tie another left square knot with cords 23-26 (2 filler cords).

Step 5:

Skip cords 1 and 2. Then using cords 3-7, tie 1 left square knot (3 filler cords). Skip cords 8-19. Then using cords 20-24, tie 1 left square knot (3 filler cords). Leave cords 25 and 26 alone.

Step 6:
Using cords 1-5, tie 1 left square knot (3 filler cords). Skip cords 6-21. Then using cords 22-26, tie 1 left square knot (3 filler cords).

Diamond:

Step 7:

Cross cord 13 over cord 14 so it's laying diagonally over cords 15-26. Cord 14 should be laying diagonally over cords 12-1. Now tie diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 15-26 on holding cord 13, working to the right. Next, tie the diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 12-1 (in descending order) on holding cord 14, working to the left.

Step 8:

Weave cords as shown in the picture labeled step 8. Or really do whatever you want to make things look nice in the middle of the diamond.

Step 9:
Now close the diamond. Lay cord 1 diagonally over cords 2-13. And cord 26 should be laying diagonally over cords 25-14. Now tie diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 2-13 on holding cord 1, working to the right. Next, tie the diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 25-14 (in descending order) on holding cord 26, working to the left.

Square Knots:

Step 10:

Repeat step 6

Step 11:

Repeat step 5

Step 12:

Repeat step 4

Step 13:

Repeat step 3

Step 14:

Repeat step 2

Step 8: Front Pattern

Step 1:

Tie 6 larks head knots on the last dowel using 6 of the ten foot ropes. This will result in 12 cords.

Step 2:

Cross cord 6 over cord 7. Laying cord 6 diagonally over cords 8-12 and cord 7 diagonally over cords 5-1. Now tie diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 8-12 on holding cord 6, working to the right. Next, tie the diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 5-1 (in descending order) on holding cord 7, working to the left.

Step 3:

Leave cords 1 and 12 alone for this step. Then make a square knot using cords 2 and 11 as the working cords and cords 3-10 as filler cords.

Step 4:

Now close the diamond. Lay cord 1 diagonally over cords 2-6. And cord 12 should be laying diagonally over cords 11-7. Now tie diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 2-6 on holding cord 1, working to the right. Next, tie the diagonal double half hitch knots with working cords 11-7 (in descending order) on holding cord 12, working to the left.

Step 5:

Tie 2 square knots. The first will be using cords 1-4 (2 filler cords) and the other will be using cords 9-12 (2 filler cords)

Step 6:

Repeat steps 2-5

Step 7:

Repeat steps 2-3

Step 9: Assemble the Swing

Step 1:
Bend your paper clip to look like the first image. You're going to use this to thread the cord through the holes in the wood.

Step 2:

Thread the ropes through the base. Each hole in the base is going to hold 4 cords. The back corner holes will have two ropes from the back and two ropes from the sides. Starting at the back corner of the base with your "back pattern" thread 2 strings through. Then move on to the next hole and put 4 strings in that one. Same with all the other holes except the other corner hole, that one will only get two (because the other two strings to fill the corner holes will come from the "side patterns" - see the second image). Note: Make sure when you are lining up the string patterns at the wood base, the pretty sides of the patterns are facing outward (these are the sides with the diamond shape popping out at you).

If you are having troubles with threading the cords (it's gonna be tight) check out images 3-7. You should be able to thread the first two cords pretty easily. To get the third cord: Thread the paper clip up and loop the cord through. Then pull downward on the paper clip and other two cords that have already been threaded through. You'll have to make sure the other two cords have slack in order to be pulled downward, but that should help you get the grip you need. Once you get the the end the hardest part will be pulling the fused end through since it's slightly thicker than the rest of the cord but if you have slack on your cords you should be able to just pull really hard on all 3 cords below the base to get it through. Repeat these steps with the fourth cord to get that one through (it'll obviously be a little harder than the third).

Step 3:

Thread your 12 five-foot cords through the 4 dowels. 3 cords per corner. First line up your dowels. The back dowel should be on top of the two side dowels, and the front dowel should be underneath the two side dowels. Use the paper clip just like you did above to get 3 cords through each corner (your going to be threading through two holes for each corner - see image 9).

Step 4:

Once you've got all 3 cords into each corner tie them all together in a single knot. Then cut the loose ends short and fuse the knot with the candle flame to ensure it is secure (see image 10). Repeat with all sets of cords underneath the base. If you would prefer to leave the loose ends long, that is also an option. I left the ends below the base of the swing about 18 inches long on my swing.

Step 5 (optional):

Braid each of the corner cord sets with a basic 3 strand braid. I braided mine 3 feet and then tied another knot at the 3 foot mark to make sure each rope was the same length.

Step 10: Finishing Up

Step 1:

Cut 18 one foot strips of ribbon to use for securing and decorating.

Step 2:

Tie 6 ribbons down either side of the "back pattern", connecting it with either "side patterns". There should be 7 loops on both edges of the "back pattern" and 6 loops on either side of the "side patterns". Line the second from the top loop on the back with the top loop on the side. Then slide one of the ribbon pieces through both loops and tie a double knotted bow. Continue doing this all the way down both sides. (see image 1)

Step 3 (optional):

You can tie 3 bows down the front of both sides of the swing for decoration purposes if you'd like (see image 2)

Step 4 (optional):

I tied the loose cords below the base together with pink yarn to make it look neat and nice. You can do this as shown in image 3 if you would like.

Step 5:

Hang the swing. You can do this outside if you have a nice tree. You can do it inside with a mounting kit. You can do it in a doorway. We hung ours on our pull up bar in the door way, but I can't say I recommend this method as it's not the safest way to hang your swing.

Disclaimer: I don't know how much weight the swing can take. It holds my 14 pound baby just fine but I don't know anything beyond that. If you are concerned, you can use thicker dowels, a thicker base, or stronger ropes. You might have to adjust hole sizes and rope lengths accordingly.

Step 11: Photo Shoot!!!

She was unsure at first but after we started swinging her she did a lot better. The fact that she liked the swing was probably the biggest relief. As cute as the swing is, I would be pretty disappointed if all it was is just a cute accessory to her nursery.

Fiber Arts Contest

Second Prize in the
Fiber Arts Contest